#STRask - Why Did God Give Moses the Ten Commandments Instead of Sending Jesus?

Episode Date: August 24, 2026

Questions about why God gave Moses the Ten Commandments instead of sending Jesus, and what it means to call Jesus Christ the “Lamb of God.”   What are your thoughts on why God gave Moses the Ten Commandments instead of sending Jesus? What does it mean to call Jesus Christ the “Lamb of God”?

Welcome to the hashtag STERASQ podcast. I am Amy Hall. I am not. I am me. Sorry, Greg and I have been chatting in here being really silly. And so now we're going to get down to business. Yeah. And we're going to answer a question from Carissa.

What are your thoughts on why God gave Moses the Ten Commandments instead of sending Jesus then? Well, I have to think about this for a little bit because that's why I'm pausing, because there's a lot involved here. And I want to make a recommendation that whoever's listening who's interested in a more thoroughgoing understanding about how all of the salvation plan of God unfolds and culminates in Jesus at a very particular time. recommendation is that they go online and take the course, the Bible fast forward. It's eight, one-hour courses, 50 minutes, and I track all of these things in the beginning. And so it's interesting

if you think about the story of reality, which is an overview of the Christian worldview, but there's a timeline there, God, man, Jesus, cross-resurrection. Well, there's a huge gap between man and Jesus, and that has to do with the unfolding of this place. that God put in place through Abraham. So you have Abraham, the Abraham of Covenant in Genesis 12, 1 through 3, which turns out to be what the rest of the Bible is all about. And so if you recall, there it says, God is going to take Abraham and make him into a great nation that entails a couple of different things. He's going to protect and bless him so that he would be a blessing to all the Goyim, all the nations.

So God's purpose of salvation wasn't just the Jews, which was the nation that was to come out of Abraham. That, of course, is a point of confusion as the history of Israel kind of developed. God's interest was in the whole nation. And so the way the Abrahamic covenant unfolded is, first of all, well, there's the call of Abraham and then the promise of the land that he would give to him because a nation requires a land, a government, and a people, a population. And so God gave them, promised them the land, but they had this time for 400 years in Egypt. Well, that expanded the people.

There's like hundreds of thousands, maybe up to one million or more. And then you have the Exodus. and when God speaks to Moses, he gives the Mosaic covenant. Now, the Ten Commandments are just a chunk of it. The whole covenant is like a constitution and a legal system to govern a country. And so now God is forming that country. Remember, his goal is to take this one man, Abraham, and through his offspring, reach the world. So, Jesus, obviously Jesus is way down the line.

This is a small band of people that don't know anything even about their God, because they have been under Egyptian rule for 400 years. They believe in, they've been, you know, Egyptian cosmologies, Egyptian idolatry, and I'm not saying they participated in all of that. but there was no record of information that was passed down. And so when Abraham, I'm sorry, when Moses comes down and then provides over that time the Pentitude, he's giving them the whole history. Moses was the one who provided the book of Genesis and all these details. And so he's reacquaining them with their history and God's purposes. And then they eventually take the land under Joshua.

And so now you can see the nation that was. promise being formed over 500 years, the people, the land, the governmental structure, it's all part of that. And then there was a condition on this Mosaic covenant, and that is, you got to do what I tell you to do, or I'm not going to take care of you, blessings and cursings, all right? And you see that number of places famously in Deuteronry 28 through 30, which is the end of the second time Moses gave the law just before they took the land. So you've got half a millennium forming this country that is then going to be capable of reaching out and making a difference in the world.

So if you think of Jesus, the Messiah, coming right at that time, there are a whole bunch of other things that happen that are really important for God to fulfill this ultimate goal of providing a message of salvation for the whole world. And that isn't going to happen in the confines of the Hebrew nation in the Hebrew language. That's going to happen, as it turns out, at a point of time, and many researchers have made this point. Jay Warner did a great job. Let's see, what was the book that he did, a person of interest? He does a great job in talking about this particular detail, that the timing was very particular, the location is very particular, the lingua franca when, during Jesus' time, it was Greek, and it was expansable

over the whole kingdom because of the expansion, the hellenizing of the whole region through the other guy, the Greek guy who conquered everybody really young, who's his name, Alexander the Great. So there were all these things that kind of come together to accomplish this greater purpose that God has to be a blessing to all the nations, and that were not in place when Moses got the Ten Commandments. Think of it. When he brought the Ten Commandments down, who's his brother? Aaron.

Aaron made a golden calf. They were already going into idolatry, you know. It was a mess. These people weren't ready to carry a message to the world. world or anything. So that was just at the very, very beginning of God laying a foundation for a mechanism on which the message about Jesus could go out intelligibly. And that didn't happen for 2,000 years from Abraham to Jesus. And so there was a whole process that was involved there and God working with the nation of Israel and also preparing them as a witness that,

wasn't, you know, syncretistic with the other religions in the area. And anyway, so there's a lot going on there. They weren't ready in any way, shape, or form to be able to do, nor was the world ready. The communication system, the roads, the culture, the languages, and all that. It was a very, a very unique time when Jesus came in light of all these other things that that made it possible for the gospel to go forth the way it did. So I agree he was doing all of those things. And I think we can take it back even farther because someone could say,

well, but why not just instantly save all the people he wants to save? Why not just instantly do it? Because he could have done that. But I think the reason, I think there is a specific reason why he did not just instantly save people but went through this entire history, and we find that answer in Ephesians where it says it's all to the praise of the glory of his grace. And in the fullness of time, we see that statement made. So how is it that doing it this way reveals his grace?

And I think we find part of the answer here in Galatians 3. Here's what Paul says. But the scripture has shut up, everyone under sin. so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith, which was later to be revealed. Therefore, the law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ so that we may be justified by faith. In other words, as God was creating a nation, he was shaping their culture, he was also showing

them, he was revealing their sin, who's revealing their need for a Savior, and he was revealing their inability to follow through on what they were supposed to do. So if he had just come in and suddenly saved them, they wouldn't have known. His grace would not have meant anything because they wouldn't have realized their need for it. So as I think that's one big aspect of this. I think just to go a little bit, you already talked about the fact that they were prefiguring Christ in all like the law. and in the sacrificial system. In fact, I was just reading Hebrews this morning, and I came across, I knew I was going to be asking you this question, and I came across this.

What, you're for prayer? Don't tell anyone, Greg. So here's what it says in Hebrews, there's all sorts of things in Hebrews, but here's what it says in Hebrews 3. Now Moses was faithful in all his house as a servant for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken. later. Oh, that's good. So when God gave the Ten Commandments, it was a testimony of what was to come. So that was part, it was God preparing, preparing them to understand what Jesus was coming to do. So all these things are happening throughout history. They're seeing who God is in his law. They're seeing his character. They're getting to know him as he works with them and he proves he's faithful and gracious.

and they're also seeing what is to come. They're getting a testimony of what is to come. And Hebrews talks a lot more about this. It talks about how the sacrificial system was a shadow of what was going to be reality in Christ. So while they had a temple on earth that was cleansed by the blood of bull and goats, bulls and goats, Jesus would go to the real temple in heaven and offer himself and his blood and cleanse us that way. So the law was revealing who God was. It was revealing their need. It was revealing God's grace, and it was acting as their tutor to bring them to Christ so that when he was sacrificed, they would

understand what that meant. Right. There's another element you hinted at a little bit just about demonstrating God's grace. So I'm reading through, just finish up First Kings, and I think I'm just starting Second Kings now. And to First Kings, you got, well, look at Solomon. Solomon's great until the end, and then he goes way south. And he deserves punishment, but God says, I'm not going to bring the consequences of your sin, which were severe at the end. He had all these idols and stuff like that because he married all these foreign wives. I'm not going to bring that until the next generation because of my love for David and my faithfulness to David.

Then the next generation, you've got Rehoboam and Jeroboam, and Rehoboam is Solomon's son, and Jeroboam creates a civil war, and God has ordained that, but then Jeroboam goes south. Bad, the sin of Jeroboam. That divides the whole nation, and it lasts for a long, long time, the impact of it. and God doesn't bring the weight down on Jerobal. He says, well, I'm going to show you grace and whatever. And then all these subsequent kings, then you get to Ahab. Ahab like is it the worst of them because he was married to Jezab and they were a couple, man. I'll tell you what.

And still God confronted Ahab, but he still showed mercy to Ahab. And Ahab was like the worst of the worst of the kings up until that time. And it's very interesting. Each king, it says, they were worse than the one before them. You can see that. But what do you also see in the process of this? God's patience, but God's kindness, God's grace. And so it was hundreds of years of this nonsense before they finally God lowered the boom.

And then another 300 years before he lowered the boom on the Southern Kingdom because there were some good kings that reformed then. But he very, very patient. All through that time, what you see is you see both the justice of God, manified, manifest inappropriate ways at different times, but also the mercy of God as he waits and waits and he waits, giving them opportunity for repentance. And so none of that would be evident to us, just in the historical record, over and above what you just described from the book of Hebrews and all of that, just dealing with the nation of Israel, that's all meant to be a testimony to us of the goodness and the grace of God.

And I've said this a hundred times because one of the objections I will hear is, well, God could have just told us. Sure. He could have just said, I am good, I'm faithful, I am gracious, and then we'd be done with it. Well, one sense he has done that in scripture, but that's another. But that's not how we were. All we have to do is think about a novel you like and think about a character. Now, if I were to say that character and I list the things about that, that character, that's going to mean nothing to you. I mean, you could repeat that back to me,

but you're not going to understand what those characteristics, how they play out, and you're not going to love that character if I just give you a list of attributes. God was revealing himself through history so that we would see him act and know who he is. And that when Jesus came and we saw His grace on the cross, we would understand what that meant. And we would, we would, would understand who he is and we would love him. And that's the point of everything. To the praise of the glory of his grace. Okay, let's go to a question from Lucy. What does it mean to call Jesus Christ the Lamb of God? Hmm. I'm pausing again because at least on the face of it, with a cursory knowledge of scripture, I think that'll be an obvious connection between Jesus.

And what we are talking about here, the Mosaic law. But maybe it's not obvious to people, especially if they're not familiar with the things we, pardon me, the things that we have just been talking about. So Jesus is called the Lamb of God and also the lion of the tribe of Judah. So in both we're getting an allegorical or metaphorical figure of speech, picture of something true about Jesus. and when Jesus came the first time, he was identified as the Lamb of God. And we get this first characterization from John the Baptist. I think it's in John Chapter 1. So, Lucy, you might go to John Chapter 1 and just see this.

It's John the Baptist, beholding Jesus or looking at Jesus, and then he says, behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. Now, he is speaking to a Jewish audience who is familiar with the practice, and the practice is to take a lamb, a spotless lamb, and offer that spotless lamb as a sacrifice for the person's sins. So there's a substitution, a perfect, you can go into detail about lambs if you want. I mean, here you've got this, this potless lamb that is. is surrendered, in a certain sense, to this task. They don't know what's coming, but in case Jesus did, in his case, and they are slain for the purpose of their blood covering the sins of the one who offered the lamb.

And so you have a similarity, a parallel, John the Baptist, saying, you know, the lamb that you slay, that for forgiveness of sins, this is, the ultimate lamb. This is the lamb who not only takes away your sins, but takes away the sins of the world. In other words, he is the one to save the world, not just the nation of Israel, not just individual Jews. So that's where the term comes from. And I mentioned the lion of the tribe of Judah because there are two comings of the Messiah. This is confusing to Jews, and I'm sympathetic with that, because they expected the Messiah to come and conquer. But the Messiah came first, not to conquer politically after fashion, but to conquer spiritually and morally, and bring renewal

to the individuals that he would have in his kingdom. And then he will come to set up his kingdom. And so the first time he came to suffer, as the suffering servant, the Lamb of God, the second time, he will come as the lion of the tribe of Judah. And this is not going to be a pretty picture for a lot of people. It will be a relief for the church, and Paul talks about that in First Thessalon, and make that second Thessalonians that when he returns, he's going to bring justice and rescue in light of the suffering Christians have had felt at the hands of those who torment them in the world.

And so it's just these two pictures are really great pictures. I love them, you know, the Lamb of God, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, come unto me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. That's the softness of Jesus, the Lamb of God, and he will give rest because he is the one that will be sacrificed on our behalf. So this is why he's called the Lamb of God. They would have had so many images in their minds hearing that because of precisely because of what we just talked about in the previous question, because they had this whole long history. Another image that they may have thought of was the fact, since it's the Lamb of God,

was the idea that God provided the ram for Abraham so he wouldn't have to kill his son. So he had the substitute for his son. And that could have come to mind. There were all sorts of things throughout their whole history. And again, you can read in Hebrews, talks about how Jesus is, the true sacrifice that all of these other sacrifices were pointing to. They might have thought of the Passover and the idea of God passing over. And there were just so many images that had been developed so that this would make sense to them when he came.

Well, that's it. Thank you so much, Lucy and Carissa. We appreciate hearing from you. And we'd love to hear from you, too. So if you have a question, you can just go to X. And if you use the hashtag SDR Ask, I will definitely see your question. But a lot of people just go to our website, so you can do that too. Just go to STR.org.

And if you look for our hashtag STR Ask podcast page, you'll find a link there where you can submit a question. And all we ask is that you just keep it to a couple of sentences. So it's basically the size of a tweet if we could still call them tweets. I don't know if we can or not. So that's it. Thank you so much for listening. We appreciate you and we appreciate hearing from you. This is Amy Hall and Greg Kokel for Stand to Reason.